Reading Programming

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RCD,

Do you code? Will you be able to help out with the server and/or clients?

You bet, I do! I can code in Java and C++ for the *nix and windows machines, I have done a lot of web servives programming using Java clients, and .NET servers and clients written in C#, recently. So, I can definitely help in writing the clients on a .NET environment.

Here's a suggestion: We can use SOAP/XML messages to communicate between the clients and the servers. If security is an issue, we can incorporate encryption in the SOAP messages using the latest WS-Security and WS-Transactions standards. If it's only get messages, and the users won't be allowed to modify anything on this host machine, then we probably don't need to care about security for now.

Right now, I am about to start investigating how to pass messages in web services using protocols which are not standards but may be more efficient performance-wise, for example - DIME - a protocol which can be used to send SOAP messages over TCP/IP.

Love is blind, but marriage is a real eye opener.

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This post was edited by frank on Aug 31, 2002.

Hmm, I don't think I'd agree to install Linux on it. :-) It took me long enough to get it up and running on FreeBSD, and I wouldn't want to do all that work again. The box is currently used as a samba, NAT and web server for our in-house LAN. I.e. if it stops working, 3 people are mad at me because they're off the Internet.
I don't see any problems tho, as many Linux applications need minimal changes in order to comile on FreeBSD. Plus FreeBSD can run Linux binaries. :-)
So, unless we're doing very OS-specific, super-tricky stuff, I don't see why we should not be able to use the same code on Linux and FreeBSD.

When life hands you a lemon, that's 40% of your RDA of vitamin C taken care of.

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...I've managed to contact Jaz in the meantime and asked him for his opinion on this topic. I haven't got a definitive reply yet, but he has asked for more details which I've sent him this evening. I do have the impression tho that he wouldn't like the idea of too many people playing around with NAO's specs or code. :-) I will post more info if/when Jaz tells me more, or maybe he'll write something himself when he and Ettena are back from their holidays.

When life hands you a lemon, that's 40% of your RDA of vitamin C taken care of.

'kay I'm trying to give a short overview here. Just the administrative stuff, don't expect a great story. :-)

NAO integration
As you probably know, our beloved site creator and admin, Jaz, is strolling around in France at the moment. I've had the chance to explain the situation to him, but haven't really got an answer yet (probably his cellphone's battery died, or he's left speechless or something). Since any interaction with the NAO web site must be programmed by him, we can't do very much right now. IMHO it's only fair to wait for him to return anyway.
AFAIK he wouldn't like it too much if the pager started replacing the NAO website, and I agree with him on that. Maybe we can talk him into writing a script that outputs NAO-related data (current users, new posts) in a machine-readable form. I wouldn't give the pager too many functions the web interface already provides.
Other opinions? :-)

The Server (hardware)
Since nobody besides me has offered one, it looks as if we're going to have a FreeBSD server with a (mostly permanent) cable modem connection. I will give away free shell accounts as soon as (if ever) there's a definitive project team.

The Server (software)
So far 3 people (frank, RCD and me) showed interest in (co-)developing the server. I do have some experience on this field, but except for plain C I suck at pretty much any programming language mentioned here.
Question: What programming language should the server be written in?

The Clients (software)
There will most likely be two clients, one for Windows and one for Linux (and probably other *nixes as well). My suggestion is that we build a platform-independent code library which is used by two platform-dependent GUI's. It might be a good idea to use the same programming language for both the server and the client library.
The only GUI stuff I can do is Windows/Delphi. I do own a copy of C++ Builder but have never really gotten into it (C++ looks just too clumsy for me).
Questions:
Who would like to (co-)develop the GUI stuff, and for which platform and programming language?
If there was a Delphi GUI, how easy/hard would it be to port it to Kylix? (I have downloaded Kylix yesterday but can't test it right now due to lack of a Linux box.)

Who would like to be involved, and what about the stuff I have forgotten here?

When life hands you a lemon, that's 40% of your RDA of vitamin C taken care of.

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This post was edited by frank on Sep 04, 2002.